Hi students and families!
We had such a great week to end the month of April in third grade. A huge thank you to our chaperones for the Arnold Arboretum field trip, who kept me calm and helped our students spend the morning as scientists and historians!
Here are some things we have been learning in the last few weeks:
Reading: In reading, we have been working on making inferences as we read. We also continue to work on Book Talks, where every group member is prepared to Say Something about what they read. Often, their questions and ideas spark interesting conversations that get the group thinking critically about what they've read. We are in 5 different reading groups, and teachers are helping us to have meaningful Book Talks that make readers think about the characters, their community, and how they change throughout the book.
Math: The math portion of the MCAS is next Monday and Tuesday. We have been reviewing important math concepts including measurement, graphs, subtraction, addition, multiplication, division, geometry, and even fractions! This week, we learned about the open response questions on the MCAS. We practiced putting our Math Congress skills into a well-organized written response. Since our class is used to explaining and proving our work, it was an easy transition to show our thinking through diagrams and complete sentences. We also had guided M.A.T.H centers, where different groups focused on various skills to help us show what we know next week!
Social Studies and Writing: We learned about our next writing unit, which connects to social studies: Pilgrim Journals! We will become pilgrims who travel on the Mayflower and keep a written record of their thoughts, daily lives, and journey. As we learn about the pilgrims, we will write journal entries from the perspective of our assigned historical figure. To help us prepare, we practiced interviewing a classmate and writing a journal entry from their point of view. Next week, we will learn about the history and then put our learning into our journals!
Science: We've been reviewing some of our learning about trees in preparation for our field trip yesterday. Students remembered important facts about seeds, types of trees, and characteristics of trees. On Thursday, we became scientists who collected different tree and plant samples to sort and categorize. We learned how trees were used to help Native Americans in many ways: as shelter, food, medicine, and transportation.
We also received our first official classroom pet: tadpoles! Students were excited to meet our MANY tadpoles. We reviewed the importance of keeping the tadpoles safe and healthy, and then made our own Observational Drawings of their current size, shape, color, and behaviors. We will continue to monitor the tadpoles as they change and grow!
Enjoy your weekend!
-Mrs. K
We had such a great week to end the month of April in third grade. A huge thank you to our chaperones for the Arnold Arboretum field trip, who kept me calm and helped our students spend the morning as scientists and historians!
Here are some things we have been learning in the last few weeks:
Reading: In reading, we have been working on making inferences as we read. We also continue to work on Book Talks, where every group member is prepared to Say Something about what they read. Often, their questions and ideas spark interesting conversations that get the group thinking critically about what they've read. We are in 5 different reading groups, and teachers are helping us to have meaningful Book Talks that make readers think about the characters, their community, and how they change throughout the book.
Math: The math portion of the MCAS is next Monday and Tuesday. We have been reviewing important math concepts including measurement, graphs, subtraction, addition, multiplication, division, geometry, and even fractions! This week, we learned about the open response questions on the MCAS. We practiced putting our Math Congress skills into a well-organized written response. Since our class is used to explaining and proving our work, it was an easy transition to show our thinking through diagrams and complete sentences. We also had guided M.A.T.H centers, where different groups focused on various skills to help us show what we know next week!
Social Studies and Writing: We learned about our next writing unit, which connects to social studies: Pilgrim Journals! We will become pilgrims who travel on the Mayflower and keep a written record of their thoughts, daily lives, and journey. As we learn about the pilgrims, we will write journal entries from the perspective of our assigned historical figure. To help us prepare, we practiced interviewing a classmate and writing a journal entry from their point of view. Next week, we will learn about the history and then put our learning into our journals!
Science: We've been reviewing some of our learning about trees in preparation for our field trip yesterday. Students remembered important facts about seeds, types of trees, and characteristics of trees. On Thursday, we became scientists who collected different tree and plant samples to sort and categorize. We learned how trees were used to help Native Americans in many ways: as shelter, food, medicine, and transportation.
We also received our first official classroom pet: tadpoles! Students were excited to meet our MANY tadpoles. We reviewed the importance of keeping the tadpoles safe and healthy, and then made our own Observational Drawings of their current size, shape, color, and behaviors. We will continue to monitor the tadpoles as they change and grow!
Enjoy your weekend!
-Mrs. K